Speed-timing device for vehicles.



No. 847,595. PATENTED MAR. 19, 1907. 1 :A. L. MGMURTRY.

SPEED TIMING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEB, 19041.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

avweM/tpz 'rl-n: NORRIS PETERS cm, WASHINGTON, D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

SPEED-TIMING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 19, 1907.

Application filed June 8, 1904- Serial No. 211,687.

To (1 7 7 whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALDEN L. MGMURTRY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and

State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Speed-Timing Devices for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention particularly relates to the timing of automobiles or other vehicles; and the devices in which' the invention is embodied may be placed at the start or finish or at both points, as well as at intermediate points at which it is desired to take the time of the vehicle.

The invention consists in the combination of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view indicating the general arrangement of the apparatus; Fig. 2, an enlarged plan of the operating mechanism; Fig. 3, a sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4. a detailed. view of one of the parts of the apparatus.

The apparatus may be mounted upon a base-board a and inclosed within a suitable cover or casing b, all appropriately supported on stands 0 or otherwise and placed at one side of the course or track. At the opposite side is a post, stake, or other suitable support (Z, to which is attached a flexible strand, preferably of non-extensible wire, the opposite end of which is connected to the end of a rod At the center the strand e maybe strained or deflected downwardly by a chain or wire g, anchored in the road-bed, this arrangement being preferably adapted in order that while the strand may be borne downwardly by the leading wheels of the vehicle it cannot react upwardly to such extent as to come in contact with the running-gear or any part of the vehicle between the two sets of wheels or at i the rear.

The rod f is endwise movable in appropriate bearings and constitutes the movable or index member of an ordinary spring-scale h, the other member of which passes through a bearing in a plate i and may be adjusted endwise by means of a thumb-nut 7c, applied to its threaded end. The rod f passes through an aperture Z in a plate or lug Z, depending from a trigger-arm m, having at one end a hub or boss m, pivoted in a post m and at the other end a pendent elongated tooth or arm n, engaged by two latches 0 p. Working on a thread on the rod f is a nut f which when the scale h has been adjusted to impose a desired tension on the strand e may be set up into contact with the trigger-arm m. The upper latch 0 is fast on a shaft 0, which may be the axis of a device similar to an ordinary messenger call-box, (not shown,) having a spring which is placed under tension by drawing the latch laterally into engagement with the trigger. The lower latch p has applied to it a spring p, which when the latch is disengaged draws a contact-face p thereon against a contact-post 9. One terminal 7' of an electric circuit is connected with the latch 19, and the other terminal 8 is connected, through a pivoted switch 25, with the contact 9.

When the parts have been adjusted, as in Fig. 2, for instance, and the nut f set up into contact with the trigger-arm m, impact of the wheels of the vehicle on the wire 6 will impose on it a sudden strain, which draws out the rod f, releasing the two latches 0 p. The lower latch 19 under the stress of its spring instantly passes to the contact q and completes the electric circuit, while the ,other latch 0, keyed to shaft 0, which may be the shaft of an ordinary messenger call-box, to which the operating-handle is attached, moves more slowly and at a determined rate of speed until it strikes the handle or knob of the switch 25 and moving it opens the circuit, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. The electric circuit, of which 1 s are the terminal wires, may control any appropriate apparatus-as, for instance, a stop-watch located at any desired point. 00 represents such a stop-watch adapted to be started or stopped by the armature of an electromagnet as, to which the circuit-wires s 1" lead.

a is a mere visual indicator carried upon a stem 11., which is a prolongation of shaft 0. When the trigger is tripped, the indicator, moving with the shaft, turns to a different position.

WVhen a series of these apparatus are placed at the start and finish an dintermediate points where time is to be taken and the same strain imposed by means of the scales upon all of the non-extensible strands, exactly similar conditions are provided at each point, or a record being made of the tension on the non-extensible wire exactly the same conditions may be had for subsequently again taking the time of the same or another vehicle over the same course.

I claim as my invention 1. In a timing device for vehicles the combination of a strand adapted to be arranged under tension in the path of the vehicle, means for imposing a measured strain upon the strand, and an indicator controlled thereby to indicate when the vehicle comes in con tact with the strand.

2. In a tlmmg device 101 vehicles, the combination of a non-extensible strand adapted 3 to be arranged under tension in the path of the vehicle, a spring-scale to one member of which an end of the strand is attached, means for adjusting the other member of the scale to impose upon the strand a determined tension, a pivoted trigger adapted to be operated by additional strain upon the strand due to impact oi the leading wheels of the vehicle, a latch engaging a trigger and released when the latter is actuated and an electric circuit automatically completed by the latch when released.

In a timing device for vehicles, the combination of a non-extensible strand adapted to be arranged under tension in the path. of the vehicle, a spirngscale to one member of which an end 01 the strand is attached, means for adjusting the other member of the scale to impose upon the strand a determined tension, a pivoted trigger adapted to be operated by additional strain upon the strand due to impact of the leading wheels of the vehicle, two latches engaging the trigger and released when it is actuated, an electric circuit automatically completed by one of the latches when so released and means whereby thereafter the other latch opens the electric circuit.

l. In a timing device for vehicles, a nonextensible strand adapted to be placed under tension in the path of a vehicle, a springscale to the endwise-movable member of which one end of the strand is attached, means for adjusting the other member of the scale to impose a determined tension on the Y strand, a pivoted trigger-arm, a device carried by the movable member of the scale adapted to be set against the trigger-arm, a latch engaged by the trigger-arm and an electric circuit automatically completed by the latch when released by the trigger-arm. 5. In a timing device for vehicles, the combination of a non-extensible strand adapted j to be arranged under tension in the path of the vehicle, a spring-scale to one member of which an end of the strand is attached, 1 means for adjusting the other member of the scale to impose upon the strand a determined. tension, a pivoted trigger adapted to be ep- 5 erated by additional strain upon the strand 1 due to impact of the leading-wheels of the vehicle, a latch engaging the trigger and released when it is actuated, an electric circuit automatically completed by the latch when 1 so released and means whereby thereafter the electric circuit is opened.

6. In a timing device for vehicles, a strand I placed under tension in the path of the vehicle, an anchor connection by which the 2 strand is centrally held deflected. toward. the l road-bed, a spring-scale to which one end of the strand is attached, and means for ad.- justing the scale to impose upon the strand a determined tension. 7. In atiming device for vehicles the com- 2 bination of a strand adapted to be arranged under tension in the path of the vehicle, means for imposing a determined. strain upon the strand and an electric circuit automatically controlled when an additional strain is imposed upon the strand by the leading-wheels of the vehicle and an electromagnet in the circuit adapted to control a stop-watch.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sub scribed. my name.

ALDEN L. MGM URIRY.

itnesses KATHARINE MixcMAnoN, LILLIE F. BROWNING. 

